Go-Karts Disguised As Real Supercars Are Unbelievably Hot Right Now - The Autopian (2024)

Think fast: What’s the single most fun thing you can do as a child? I mean sure, Burnout 3: Takedown is still a brilliant racing game, but I’m talking about something that happens away from a screen. It’s Go-karting, of course! Who didn’t love strapping on a helmet and pretending to be Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna, or Kimi Raikkonen during summer break? It didn’t matter that much if the go-kart selection at the local track was crap, you were driving, and that’s as good as it got. Perhaps as a method of bottling that nostalgia, classic go-karts that look like real cars have gained serious popularity at online auctions over the past few years, and it’s easy to see why.

Granted, if you pick one of these things up, there’s only so much you can do with it. You probably won’t get away with running them around many neighborhoods anymore, so you’ll need some serious space for them to play. However, if you’re, say, an HOA board member or happen to have a parking lot at your disposal (or just live out in the sticks), replica go-karts can be a ton of fun. Beyond that, they’re just cool to look at, and some feature incredible craftsmanship.

The explosion in novelty go-kart sales on Bring A Trailer over the past few years speaks to the appeal of these little things, and it started as all fires do: First a spark, then a catch, then a flame, then an inferno. Let’s take a walk back through the past few years to see how we got here.

The first car-aping go-kart to appear on Bring A Trailer was a Porsche 936 Junior that hammered for $25,500 back in 2019. [Ed Note: Forget Bring a Trailer, I’ve been seeing these miniaturized versions of supercars blowing all over the world. My car-collector friend in Hong Kong bought some for his sons, I know Beau has multiple mini sports cars — they’re definitely in. -DT] Strong money, but the 936 Junior is a holy grail of go-karts. See, this isn’t a mere licensing deal sold in big box stores, but an actual item commissioned and sold by Porsche itself. Between 50 and 100 of these pint-sized replicas of the Le Mans-winning 936/81 were produced, making them coveted by Porschephiles. It’s a strong precedent, but one that would set the stage for things to come.

In early 2020, another child-friendly racecar lookalike appeared on Bring A Trailer, this time an Italycar Ferrarina 312T2. Powered by a 60cc two-stroke engine and shaped like Niki Lauda’s 1976 Formula 1 car, it does a surprisingly convincing “Honey, I shrunk the racecar” impression. It’s also rare, with only 12 allegedly being made, and appeals to Ferrari collectors, who have some serious cash to throw about. The result? Try $46,000 for what is essentially a child’s toy. How mad is that?

By now, you may have noticed a pattern with these early examples — they’re all made to look like racecars. That changed on the last day of 2020, when a Rupp Chevy Junior hammered for $7,500. A what? Well, it was a mass-produced go-kart made to look like the Chevrolet Monza SS concept car. Allegedly, GM’s design legend Bill Mitchell wanted a scaled-down version of the Monza SS concept, so GM went to small leisure vehicle manufacturer Rupp, and a deal was struck. This was a mass-produced toy, first as the Monza Junior SS and then as the Chevy Junior, so it’s nowhere near as pricey as the Porsche 936 Junior or the Italycar Ferrarina 312T2, but it definitely helped open the floodgates.

If 2019 showed spark and 2020 ignition, 2021 carried a baby flame of car-shaped go-karts. More and more examples came to Bring A Trailer, from a Lorinser 500SL go-kart to a miniature E-Type to a Celica Supra lookalike. Most of these toys went for sensible-ish money, with the Celica Supra a steal at $2,600 and the E-Type coming in relatively strong at $8,800. However, they all helped fan the flame, and whip things into a frenzy for 2022 and 2023.

This Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR go-kart with a plaque signed by legendary driver Stirling Moss sold for an astonishing $45,000 earlier this year. That’s certified pre-owned C300 money. To the right person, I can see why it was worth it. More than just a scaled-down piece of racing history, the detailing on it is absolutely beautiful, from the paint to the brightwork to the stitching.

The cabin of this scaled-down 300 SLR is lined in quilted vinyl and carpet, the pedals are expertly grooved for grip, and all the exposed linkages for throttle, braking, and steering are just perfect. This tiny 300 SLR is simply a wonderful thing, and probably wouldn’t have broken the budget should a 300 SL gullwing owner wanted it in their garage.

On the other end of the market, this Oldsmobile Aerotech go-kart hammered on Thursday for $8,000, and it’s also kick-ass. Sure, it uses a fairly standard frame underneath, but the Aerotech was an American hero car of the ’80s, the coolest Oldsmobile of all time, and a near-mythical instrument of speed. It doesn’t matter that you have to take the rear canopy off to use it, because this thing kicks ass standing still. It drills into exactly why adults buy these little go-karts for real car money: They’re just damn cool.

[Ed Note: Let’s not forget the Porsche 356 Speedster that stars in our topshot! Bring a Trailer reports it’s from “Little Roadsters” and features a fiberglass body over a tubular steel frame with a 107cc 4-stroke single delivering power to the wheels via a 3-speed sequential gearbox (with reverse!) and chain drive. It looks fantastic, and sounds wonderful too:

And the price for this lovely machine? The Bring a Trailer auction closed at $30,250 – not inexpensive by any stretch, but with actual Porsche 356 Speedsters auctioning for $200,000 – 500,000 at the site, at least the buyer’s price for the two-thirds scale Speedster was much less than two-thirds of the “real thing.”

The online market for car-shaped go-karts is still an emerging one, but it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. These things are rare, valuable, and incredibly cool. Plus, some of the people who wanted these as kids are now car-crazy adults who’ve either made a ton of money or are willing to make irrational financial decisions. Hidden inside all of us is our nine-year-old selves, craving the four-wheeled equivalent of Pop Rocks.

(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer)

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